Bloomberg officially closes deal to acquire ‘BusinessWeek’

New York—It's official: McGraw-Hill Cos. announced Tuesday that it has completed the sale of BusinessWeek to Bloomberg L.P.

McGraw-Hill expects to recognize a $9.3 million pretax ($5.9 million post-tax) gain from the sale.

BusinessWeek is reportedly expected to lose about $20 million this year. The brand saw its advertising pages decline by more than 30% through the first nine months of this year compared with the same period last year. Additionally, about 100 jobs were cut at the title last month.

Bloomberg is pinning its hopes for reviving and perhaps transforming the brand on the title’s access to the 1,500 Bloomberg News editorial staffers around the globe.

The sale of BusinessWeek marks the end of an era for McGraw-Hill, which launched the brand in 1929, the year the stock market crash ushered in the Great Depression.

“I am grateful to everyone who helped build BusinessWeek into the globally respected, flagship brand that it is, and I am proud that its name and all that it represents—independence, integrity and insightful reporting—will live on at Bloomberg,” Harold McGraw III, chairman-president-CEO of McGraw-Hill, said in a statement.

McGraw-Hill said the sale will allow it to focus resources on its operations in financial services, education, business data and analytics, most of which do not depend on advertising for revenue. Bloomberg, on the other hand, is wading into advertising-supported media when many large media corporations—Reed Elsevier, United Business Media, Nielsen Co. and McGraw-Hill among them—are distancing themselves from such businesses.

In related news, Bloomberg L.P. announced Monday that Charlie Rose will join BusinessWeek as a columnist. In his weekly column, Rose will converse with politicians, executives and other newsmakers. He will continue as host of his nightly PBS program, “Charlie Rose,” which is re-broadcast on Bloomberg Television network. Rose’s first column is expected to appear in the Dec. 21 issue of BusinessWeek.